Recent advances in metal-organic frameworks for the removal of heavy metal oxoanions from water

Abstract

Due to the serious threat of heavy metal oxoanions to human health and the natural environment, their efficient removal from water contaminants has become a vital issue. Currently, adsorptive removal is one of most promising approaches to purify contaminated water. Thus, the exploration of advanced adsorption materials has attracted widespread attention. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with the advantages of tunable porosity, high surface area, and abundant functional groups are superior than conventional adsorbents. Herein, this review summarizes recent progress in different MOFs as outstanding adsorbents to remove heavy metal oxoanions from water, including typical SeO32−/SeO42−, HAsO42−/H2AsO4−/H3AsO3, and CrO42−/Cr2O72−. In addition, their adsorption mechanisms are also involved, which is conducive to not only understand the adsorption process between MOFs and heavy metal oxoanion contaminants but also design new MOFs-based adsorbents with excellent performance for further research.